


Light 'Em Up

by orphan_account



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU, BAMF!Clint, BAMF!Maria, DJ Rhodey, F/M, Rap, Songfic, Street Dance, Street Teams, Territory, dance battle, flash mob
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-18
Updated: 2013-11-18
Packaged: 2018-01-01 23:55:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1050100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An awesome Avengers AU inspired by watching too much Step Up and a major caffeine high! From now on I'll be sharing my time between this and Fly Free! Cookies!</p>
<p>This time Natasha and the Avengers hit the streets in an AU filled with dance, rap, romance, badassery and creepy men with eyepatches! When Nat meets the Shield Street Crews best agent, she sees opportunity, and the chance to escape her former life. She shows she's got the skills to run with the big boys with a little help from her friends and finally decides she's got a home. But what will happen when you chuck in Hydra, a brother with a grudge, former jealous boyfriends and the obscenity known as high school?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Light 'Em Up

Natalia was ever so slightly lost. As she wandered the streets, she regretted this very much. Her boyfriend had decided to throw a party to celebrate his house football teams victory over the Asgard Warriors and there had been booze. Lots of booze.

Good thing she wasn't a lightweight.

It was dark and she was in a pretty run down area of town, dilapidated apartment building and warehouse mixed in together. She was almost expecting Batman to come out of the shadows and kick some bad guys ass.

She wasn't entirely sure where she was going or even where she was before the pulse of muffled music made her stop and look around. A few streets over she found a skatepark absolutely packed with people, a mess of tank tops, skinny jeans, short skirts and flat caps.

It looked like a party or something with the throb of music and dancers, and large quantities of food and alcohol. Just great. More partying drunks.

She sighed, but jumped the short fence anyway. Maybe she could get directions from someone who wasn't too smashed to even form a coherent sentence, let alone thought.

There was a likely candidate a few metres in front of her, talking fast to some dark haired dude. She was just about to tap him on the shoulder when suddenly the guy he was talking to snarled and shoved in the chest.

He was propelled into Natalia, and she nearly fell but he deftly regained his footing and whipped around to grab her.

"Whoa whoa babe, careful." He glanced behind himself and practically growled. "Son of a bitch. Hold this a sec will ya? This fucker is just asking for some." He stripped off his shirt and handed it to her, before turning back to the offender.

She caught his shirt numbly, startled, and watched him stalk towards the guy with the long black hair. Holy crap, were they actually going to fight? It was funny, studying them, she now realised they were two complete opposites.

While the guy she had interacted with had been well muscled, with short spiky golden hair and a loose grace that reminded her of a jungle cat, (facts that to her discomfort, definitely interested her) his seeming opponent was lean (but not in an unhealthy way) with an ever ready smirk and the strut of a peacock.

The other teens were starting to notice, and began to ooh and egg them on. Apparently the DJ had taken an interest as well, because all of a sudden there was a voice to accompany the music

"Aw hell, it's going down over here. Looks like God-boy pissed off the Hawkeye, so all you lightweight noobs better get ready for a change of pace."

The intense throb of music suddenly got louder and the crowd of people were cheering and whooping as they watched the two circle each other.

"You wanna go sparks bird boy? Or I can beat your ass old school if you prefer." Blond just grunted and caught one of the two crowbars thrown to them by the crowd. 

Shit shit shit what was happening? Maybe she should call the police or something. But suddenly the guy nicknamed Hawkeye stepped back and slashed the piece of metal against the ground, creating a trail of sparks.

"We'll see about that, faggot."

Natalia watched, captivated, as he did it again, twice this time, sending the watching audience into a frenzy of excitement. She recognised the song: Hands up in the Air by Timberland.

Then he froze, and jerked back a bit. He did it again and again until he was almost parallel to the ground and then suddenly the music picked up and he echoed it, lunging forward into a one handed handstand. The crowd screamed as he flicked his legs up to strike a pose and then rolled to his feet and spun in a circle, dragging the tip of the crowbar across the ground to send sparks flying around him.

They were dancing.

It was amazing, she had never seen anything like this outside of movies and the mood of the crowd caught on fast until she was as loud as any of them. He rocked backwards and cartwheeled (was that even what you called this?) forward right into Peacocks face, thrusting the crowbar to the ground between them.

"Oh damn, the Hawk just made it per-son-aaal!" The DJ whooped.

Peacock took a surprised step back, then snarled. He twirled his crowbar in the air above his head and then spun around with one leg out. Then he back flipped and struck the crowbar against the ground, drawing sparks.

Thumped the crowbar on his chest twice before turning on his heels to drop to the ground. Hands under his chest he pushed himself up to spin on his head and then flipped back onto his feet.

"Beat that birdy. I dare you."

Hawkeye just grinned wickedly, and held something into the air for the audience to see. Natalia understood as he threw himself into a front flip and clipped the wheels into the soles of his pumps. He flipped again to gain momentum and leaned on his heels to skid towards Peacock.

Peacock twitched, and looked like he wanted to step out of the way but sheer stubbornness didn't let him. About a millisecond before contact Hawkeye jerked onto his back and slid between Peacocks legs, his own spread wide with knees bent, dragging the sparking crowbar behind him. The crowd went quote unquote wild and in one fluid move he was back on his feet.

But he wasn't done yet. He imitated a judo kick as he flipped forward and landed in a handstand, twisting to face the other direction before spinning around supported by only his arms. The final move was the endgame. Back on his feet, he ran forward a few steps, rested on his heels for a few more and then threw the crowbar into the air, leapt into a triple front flip and come down in the splits, catching the crowbar one handed above his head and well and truly finishing it.

Everyone cheered and converged on Hawkeye, thumping him on the back and fist bumping him. Eventually it died down though, and she threaded her way through the knot of people towards him.

"Here." She said, and smiled shyly, handing him his shirt and a bottle of water. He grinned at her and gulped down half the bottle before wiping his forehead.

"Thanks." He quirked an eyebrow. "Haven't seen you around before, you new to one of the downtown crews?"

"Um no, actually." She smiled faintly. "I'm just really, really lost. This place is like a maze."

He laughed. "Not to the street regulars it ain't. Does your golden chariot await or do you need a ride, cos' Ironman up the back just got me a sweet new bike to test and I wanna do exactly that as soon as possible."

Natalia nodded, seemed legit. "Can you give me a lift to Red Room Drive?"

His head suddenly jerked up and he stared at her hard. "Red Room, fuck. Uh, you know how it works around here, right? Cos' I'm sorry but there's no way I'm going up there. It's Room territory, they'll fucking know about it and they'll be out for my people. It's bad enough already."

He sighed and rubbed his face. "I'm sorry, but, yeah. It's pretty far though, you can crash at the Club if you want. I'm sure Fury won't care."

She hesitated, guard coming up. She had just met this guy, and staying the night somewhere strange made her nervous, but she had a feeling that there weren't going to be many cabs down here.

"It'll be cool, just chill." He seemed to understand her concerns. "The Shield crew are all good guys, I've known 'em for years. It's a good thing you ran into us first, and not someone like the Chitauris. You don't wanna go near those bastards."

She shivered slightly. "Okay then."

"Cool." He tied his shirt around his waist and took her hand. They weaved through the crowd until they approached a makeshift bar.

"Hey Maria, we're heading down to the Helipad, 'kay? This chic needs a place to crash."

The brunette serving drinks nodded, smirking. "Sure, and that better not have been an intended pun, Hawkeye."

He feigned shock. "Of course not, Maria."

She just rolled her eyes and went to go serve someone else. Natalia fell into step beside her new companion as they left the skate park and walked down the street.  
They fell into a comfortable silence, before curiosity got the better of her.

She nudged his arm. "That 'crash' pun something I should know about?"

He grinned and looked into the distance as if remembering something particularly amusing, funny silver eyes alight.

"Well, before I hooked up with my crew, I used to live with carnies. Eventually they dumped me 'cos everyone was just too busy to handle a parent less kid. I may or may not have set fire to one of the tents and they may or may not have come after me causing me to maybe steal a military helicopter and 'accidentally' crash it into Shield Street's regular. It may or may not be still there."

She studied his face. "You're insane." She said flatly.

Laughter again. "Thank you."

The 'Helipad' was actually a pretty cool club. The whole bottom floor just a big dance floor with a fully stocked bar up the back. Another awesome aspect was that the DJ turntables were on a raised platform in the centre of the room, forming a donut shape the DJ stood inside to operate. The speakers were above the DJ on the ceiling.

At the moment it was empty, and he led her up a set of stairs.

"Rooms are up here, take any one you want as long as it's free." He tossed her a set of keys. "These are for the front and back doors, if you need to you can leave when you want. Try and give 'em back first though."

He thought for a second, before shrugging. "Should be everything, yell if you need me. Names Clint by the way." He flashed her a smile before walking back down the stairs.

Natalia hesitated before stepping in to the closest bedroom. She closed the door and dropped onto the bed, but found herself too wired to sleep. She couldn't believe this place, these kids, this dance.

It had been so amazing, the way they had ebbed and flowed with the beat and rhythm. Where she lived, ballet was everything. Her parents insisted she take lessons and so she did, she had to.

Ballet was just boring. So was her lifestyle. It was all etiquette and class and not mixing with the poor rabble. A curfew, friends chosen for her, trapped inside the perfect pink girly girl life her parents had sculpted for her.

And she hated it.

But at that party, the music was loud, the clothing was probably inappropriate, the people were free and the rules were nonexistent. 

And she wanted that.

So in workout pants and a crop top (her parents would have exploded at the thought of her even looking at one, let alone owning one so it made her very satisfied) Natalia padded down the stairs to find Clint, hoping to learn more about his life.

He wasn't in he club, but she could hear faint dubstep coming from an open door. There was a short ramp and she found herself in some kind of huge gym, or probably more accurately huge studio.

The first thing she saw was the DJ from the party earlier lying on a table, completely out cold. Clint was holding a packet of marshmallows and seeing how many he could shove into the guys open mouth.

A tall strawberry blond was tapping away at a tablet and telling Clint halfheartedly to stop being an asshole. A few metres behind them two guys were in the back of a hot rod red ute installing what looked like massive subwoofers.

"Okay Bruce, hand over the chainsaw."

One of the guys jumped out and weighed the said tool in his hand, considering.

"Uh, are you sure it's necessary in the installation of a sound system? Because I don't think its a very good idea at all."

The other man stood and flashed a charming grin. "Of course it is, have I ever been wrong?"

"Actually..."

"Exactly my point. Never." He leaned down and plucked it from Bruce's hands, starting it up with a few yanks and focusing on his work once more. Bruce just sighed and tried to stop him from slicing the car clean in half.

"Sup Red. Can't sleep?" Clint was walking towards her, popping a marshmallow in his mouth and she nodded mutely. He hesitated. "If you're too hyped up, wanna learn some street moves?"

She nodded again. "That would be awesome."

"Come on then." They padded over to the mats and he walked her through some stretches.

"Okay. First thing you need to know is that street dance is all about expression and how you express yourself. Once you develop your own style, there's no right or wrong way to do it. Let's start with the cross step, it's something that appears in a lot of other more complicated moves. Follow me."

He began to move, watching and correcting any faults he saw as they flowed into each step. It wasn't only relaxing, it felt way more natural than the stiff posing of ballet.

A few minutes in the DJ (introducing himself as Rhodey, or War Machine on the decks) joined them, sneaking a few moves in as well. After a few hours she was absolutely exhausted, but she felt truly alive. It was amazing.

When Clint called it quits, she stepped up and hugged them both tightly, much to their surprise. "That was really great, thanks!"

They shared a bemused look but accepted it. When Rhodey had meandered off, Clint patted her on the back.

"You're doin' pretty good Red. Sure you don't dance already?"

Natalia sighed. "Yes, actually. Ballet. But I hate it, it's nothing like this. This just feels so simple and free and..." She waved her arm.

"Natural?" He prompted.

"Uh huh."

"Don't you want to quit or something?"

"My parents would never allow me to. They have a picture of me in their heads, or a picture of what they think I should be and they'll pull any strings to make that happen. Hell, they aren't even my real parents! Their a foster family who seem intent on breaking me. I can't wait until I'm old enough to get emancipated."

"Hmm." He looked thoughtful. "Well, you ever need a somewhere to chill, this place is always open. Keep the keys."

Natalia was about to thank him when suddenly the lights flicked off one by one.

"Okay guys, we're done for the night." Called the tall woman from across the room. Clint shrugged and together they went back upstairs.

"Goodnight Clint."

He smiled from her doorway.

"'Night Red."

**Author's Note:**

> My songs know what you did in the Dark (Light 'em Up) is the song, it's by Fall Out Boy, so check it out and fill your ears with pure unrefined awesome!


End file.
